The ThumbNailer

ThumbNailer - copyright 1997, Smaller Animals Software

v3.1.0

Shareware Alert

The trial version of this program has a 14-day trial period. After the 14-days are up, an annoyance screen will appear each time the program is launched. Also, after the 14 days are up, you will be limited to no more than 5 files at a time. This program took a lot of effort, I'd appreciate a little cash so that I can buy a new desk. Sorry for the annoyance screen.

To register this program and eliminate all of the annoying pop-up screens, you will need $15 US.

Contact

If there are any problems, contact : CHRISDL@PAGESZ.NET

Registration info is available from :

http://www.pagesz.net/~chrisdl/software/thumb.htm

Instructions

This program may be run normally from Win95/NT by creating a shortcut to it, or by running from the Start menu.

Choose a source directory.

All JPG, BMP and PNG images in this directory will be read. Input images won't be modified.

Choose a destination directory.

Images read from the input directory will  be processed and written to this directory.

Choose an output size.

This represents the size of the thumbnails.

Choose a resize method.

The choices are :

Best Fit

ThumbNailer fits the output image into the specified output size as best as is possible without distorting the original image.

Fixed Width

ThumbNailer uses the specified output width, but adjusts the output height such that the output image is not distorted.

Fixed Height

ThumbNailer uses the specified output height, but adjust the output width such that the output image is not distorted.

No Resize

ThumbNailer does not resize the output image at all. All image enhancements are applied and the image is written to the output directory.

Choose an output file format.

The choices are :

24-bit Same as Input

Input files are written out in the same format  that they were read in, but in the 24-bit  variety.

8-bit Same as Input

Input files are written out in the same format that they were read in, but in the 8-bit variety, except JPG, which has no 8-bit variant.

BMP-24

Images are written as 24-bit BMP files.

BMP-8

Images are color-quantized to a 256 color  palette and  written to 8-bit  BMP files.

JPG

Images are written to JPG files.

PNG-24

Images are written to 24-bit PNG files

PNG-8

Images are color-quantized to a 256 color 	palette and written to 8-bit PNG files.

Press Start.

You may cancel at any time.

Options

Output Naming

The output files normally retain the name of the input file. You can choose to have ThumbNailer create new names using one of the three methods described below :

Auto Numeric Suffix

ThumbNailer tests checks that a file with the output name doesn't already exist in the output directory.  If one does exist, ThumbNailer changes the output name by appending a "1" to the end of the file name. If there is a file that matches this name, the "1" becomes a "2", and so on.

Text Prefix

Output name = extraText + inputName

Text Suffix

Output name = inputName + extraText

PNG

Background Color

PNG files can be written with a specified background color. This color is used to blend the image with, using the PNG alpha channel. The color is not always specified. This allows you to specify a color to use in files where the background color is not specified.

Screen Gamma

This is the gamma value of your monitor. 2.2 is a good guess for most PC monitors.

Output Gamma

If you want to specify an output gamma for your PNG images, do it here. If you leave the value at 0, no gamma is written to the file. If you want to specify a value, a value of 1 / ScreenGamma is recommended,  unless you know what you're doing.

Copy PNG text from input

PNG files can have an arbitrary number of text fields in them. If you want to preserve the text in the input PNG files when writing the output PNG files, choose this.

Key

PNG text fields are composed of a key of 1-79 chars, and an optional text field. These must be printable characters!

Text

PNG text can be any size.

Compress

PNG text can be compressed in the file.

JPG

High Compression

Smaller JPG output at the cost of lesser image quality.

Silent Errors

Suppress JPG error messages.

Image

Sharpen

Apply a slight sharpening filter to the output image.

Enhancements

None

ThumbNailer does nothing

Lighten Midtones

ThumbNailer lightens colors in the middle of the brightness range.

Darken Midtones

ThumbNailer darkens colors in the middle of the brightness range.

Raise Contrast

ThumbNailer applies a slight contrast increase to the image.

Extreme Contrast

If you are making thumbnails of B&W line 	drawings, try this setting. It is a  rather extreme color shift, so color images won't do well with  this.

Overlay Image

This allows you to overlay an image over all ouput images. This can be used for things like logos or time stamps, etc.. If the overlay image is too large to fit in the output image, it is resized to fit.

Overlay Image

Check this if you want to overlay an image onto all output images.

Image to Overlay

Enter the path to the JPG, BMP or PNG file that you wish to overlay.

Browse

Browse for the overlay file.

Top, Bottom, Left, Right

Choose the position of the overlay. For Left and Right, the overlay image is rotated 90 degrees. The overlay image is then resized to best fit along the edge specified.

Transparent Color

You should use images with a solid background of some kind. This allows you to specify that color as a transparent color. You can overlay text and non-rectangular images this way. If there is no transparent color in your image, be sure to specify a color that is not in your overlay image.

Opacity

The overlay image can be blended into the output image. 0 Means the overlay is invisible. 100 means it is opaque.

Registration

To register ThumbNailer, you will need an access key. Versions prior to 3.1 require that you register from the DOS command line.  To do this, you type “THUMB /UNLOCK key”,  from the directory where THUMB.EXE resides. “Key”  is the access key you have purchased.

In v3.1 and up, you can register from within ThumbNailer itself. Simply enter the access key and press Register.

If you have already registered, you won’t see this tab.

DOS Operation

To run from a DOS prompt in 95/NT :

START /W THUMB [/HIDE] INDIR OUTDIR OUT_MAX_X OUT_MAX_Y [OUTFILE TYPE]

START /W  forces the DOS box to wait until ThumbNailer has exited before returning the cursor.

/HIDE forces the app to run silently - no windows are launched. Without /HIDE, the app runs as a normal Windows app and all other parameters are ignored.

INDIR   	specifies directory from which files will be read       	** mandatory

OUTDIR  	specifies directory to which files will be written      	** mandatory

OUT_MAX_X OUT_MAX_Y	maximum dimensions of output files.      	** mandatory

[OUTFILE TYPE]    one of :

0 : output type matches source type - 24-bit output 	** default

1 : output type matches source type - 8-bit output

2 : output to BMP 24-bit

3 : output to BMP 8-bit

4 : output to JPG

5 : output to PNG 24-bit

6 : output to PNG 8-bit

Example :

START /W THUMB /HIDE C:\TEMP\BIGPIX C:\TEMP\SMALLPIX 100 100 4

This will copy all JPG, PNG and BMP files in C:\temp\bigpix to JPG thumbnails of 100x100 (max) pixels in c:\temp\smallpix.

If OUT_MAX_X and OUT_MAX_Y are both -1, no resizing will occur. The images will be copied to the output file format.

Note, there is no DOS output! no errors are reported when launched from a DOS prompt!

Tech Credit

GIF from Programming for Graphics Files    by John Levine

PNG from LibPNG v0.96

JPG from IJG 6a

GIF removed because UNISUYS sucks.

Quantizer from Dennis Lee's DL1Quant

Legal Stuff

Disclaimer

I find this software suitable for my own use. I make no guarantees that you will find it suitable for yours. Use at your own risk! Any bugs reported will be fixed ASAP.

Copyright

This software is Copyright 1997, Smaller Animals Software, written by Chris Losinger. The software may not be altered in any way. This software may be freely distributed. The access key may not be.


Source Path

This is where ThumbNailer will find the input images.


Destination Path

This is where ThumbNailer will place the thumbnail images.


Browse

Use this to search your computer for the source directory.


Browse

Use this to search your computer for the destination directory.


Output Width

Specify the maximum width of the output images.


Output Height

Specify the maximum height of the output images.


Resize Method

Use this to choose the resizing method you want ThumbNailer to use, from best-fit to fixed width or height. Use No Resize to copy to a new format.


Output file format

Use this to select the file format of the thumbnail images.


Progress Meter

This shows how much work the ThumbNailer has done in this job.


Start

Press this to start creating thumbnails. You may cancel at any time.


Quit

Quit the ThumbNailer.


Options

Choose the ThumbNailer options that you want to use.


About

View the ThumbNailer About-box. Registration information is here.